The first trailer for the rebooted Magnum PI show has been released and there is plenty of Fezza carnage. Maybe too much, in fact.
It’s unclear whether Thomas Magnum’s Ferrari 308GTS will return in a regular “star car” role in the new series, but one is certainly dispensed with in the trailer, as is a Ferrari 458. They’re both on the receiving end of gunfire and maliciously driven “baddie” vehicles.
Directed by Fast and the Furious auto-auteur Justin Lin, the new show has upped the pace and the gunfire, looking like a cross between the aforementioned Vin Diesel-saturated series and the big screen Mission: Impossible franchise.
There’s a connection with the 1980s series though: Donald P. Bellisario — the creator of the wise-cracking gardener/security man/private investigator — gets a writing credit.
Magnum is played by Suicide Squad’s Jay Hernandez (slight moustache, but not a patch on Tom Selleck’s original hairy slug), while Brit actress Pertida Weeks plays a — gasp! — female Higgins. The familiar sidekick characters of Rick and T.C return, played by youthful lookalikes.
And even the great-great-great grandsons of Zeus and Apollo feature, along with plenty of episodic evil-doers Magnum will be forced to tussle with in order to bring justice to the weak and (ideally) beautiful.
Does the show even need to be remade? Probably not. The original still holds up on a comfort-food nostalgia level, albeit with the unavoidable lingering pastel backdrop of 1980s television production indelibly in place (needlessly long establishing shots, awful incidental music).
And they’d never have sacrificed the Ferrari 308GTS for the sake of a good plot twist back in the day. We’ll give the 2018 version of Magnum PI a look for curiosity’s sake, but if the destruction of those two Ferraris in the trailer is in order to make way for a contracted Hyundai product placement deal, we’ll never watch another frame.
An iconic SUV? Yes, already
SUVs are so popular these days that it’s perhaps only a matter of time before family wagons of different eras begin to acquire new-found classic cachet. Not that we’re struggling to come up with feelings of joy at the sight of expert American 4x4 resto-modder Icon’s latest restoration.
Before it was replaced by the Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Wagoneer was America’s land yacht for the larger family for nearly 30 years.
Featuring copious amounts of seating and luggage space and a thirst for fuel that would have had Texan oil tycoons rubbing their hands with glee, the Wagoneer introduced the idea of the SUV as far back as 1963.
We’ve already praised Icon in the past: it has made its name as a restorer of some of the finest Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40s that (a lot of) money can buy. Icon has also revitalised some swish-looking Ford Broncos of late, following the same new-under-old-skin template.
The gorgeous 1965-era Icon Wagoneer the company recently unveiled continues the theme. It looks stock but features a 6.2-litre Chevy LS3 V8, with plenty of modern componentry inside the cabin and up-rated Fox shock absorbers. True to tradition, the Wagoneer features a Dana 60 rear axle and Dana 44 front axle. At least the woodgrain panel trim decals were left in place.
Of course, the Icon Wagoneer started us thinking; which of the many current SUVs available in 2018 might one day become a future classic? In decades to come, will an Icon-style resto-modder disassemble and then reassemble a first-generation Volkswagen Touareg? Will a classic show-and-shine event in 2040 feature carefully polished Ford Territorys and gleaming BMW X3s, upstaged by that still-pretty Volvo XC90 with the ‘Best In Show’ ribbon under its quaint windscreen wiper?
Rolls-Royce’s new rear view
Sorry Range Rover, but your butt-resting boot device has just been upstaged by another British brand.
Rolls-Royce might be new to this SUV malarkey, but it certainly knows how to provide a good bench from which to watch the polo, what.
There are plenty of luxurious details in the recently revealed Rolls-Royce Cullinan, not least its super comfortable … er, drop-down tailgate.
Rather than expecting its customers to, ugh, simply rest their champagne flutes on the deeply carpeted inside surface of the tailgate, Rolls-Royce has instead engineered a “viewing suite”.
This high-falutin’ fold-out combines two leather-lined seats and a tiny table for canapes and superyacht brokerage brochures.
Once upon a time, such seating might have graced the rear-end of the vintage “high-riding” Rolls-Royces the company insists this current foray into the world of the SUV is inspired by; the Ghosts and Wraiths of the 1910s and 20s.
Back then of course, they’d have made for the ideal perch from which to watch rhino being hunted across the veldt.
Thankfully we’re above that nowadays, although what unspeakable things nouveau riche multi-millionaire footballers will use the chairs for probably doesn’t bear thinking about.